For many consumers, the ability to actually taste has been diminished by the addition of flavor blockers. Food formulators have been tasked with masking those pesky sour, astringent or bitter tastes to develop palatable products. Sugar does the heavy lifting for many formulations. It’s plentiful, cheap and keeps us fat and happy.

The food industry is undergoing a major disruption as consumers are waking up to the perils of sugar.Josh Hahn.has written an excellent article discussing some of the healthier sugar substitutes available to formulators. Stevia, monk fruit and mushrooms are in the pantry. For more surprises, read more.

With the average American consuming three times the daily recommend amount of sugar and obesity reaching epidemic proportions, the food industry is frantically trying to develop healthier products. However, taking sugar out of foods is not as simple as it sounds as it provides a critical role in product development due to flavor defects.